Why is Japan pushing the nation's efforts to promote the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and solid-state batteries?

For hybrid and pure electric vehicles in the medium-term plan, Japan sees solid-state batteries as a hope to reduce demand for cobalt. Cobalt resources are being closed up by Chinese companies, and the lithium battery field is being overtaken by Chinese companies. Japan hopes to promote the development of all-solid-state batteries by the national power, so as to vigorously re-establish the battery industry in the field of lithium batteries.

Competition for rare metals such as lithium and cobalt is intensifying. These materials are the core materials for the manufacture of lithium batteries, and as the scale of electric vehicles expands, their demand and supply will also rise sharply. However, the global lithium and cobalt resources are limited. Whoever holds the lithium resources will master the "life gate" of this round of electric vehicle development.

When domestic companies are competing for lithium and cobalt resources globally, Japan is working hard to develop hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and solid-state batteries.

Under the circumstances that domestic enterprises seized lithium resources and caused panic in Japan, the domestic government's support for electric vehicles and the overseas lithium resources of domestic enterprises made "Japan News" issue "China dominates the competition for rare metals" (China dominates the competition of rare metals) )the sound of.

In this article, "Japan News" compares the capacity and status of Toyota Tsusho and the domestic Tianqi Lithium industry. Toyota Tsusho and a large Australian resource development company were co-founded in the joint venture at the Oralos Salt Flats, where lithium-rich salts were extracted from the 200-meter underground and placed in artificial ponds. It then undergoes 300 days of natural drying and is finally concentrated to lithium. Currently, this production base can produce 17,500 tons per year. Taking into account further demand in the future, Toyota Tsusho announced in January this year that its annual production capacity will be expanded to 41,500 tons. This plan means that it must increase capacity by a factor of 2.5. However, the number is still "not difficult to match the lithium capacity produced by Chinese companies."

On May 17 this year, the domestic lithium giant Tianqi Lithium invested US$4.066 billion (about 25.893 billion Yuan) to win a 27.7% stake in Chilean resource development company SQM. It is understood that in 2017, SQM's lithium carbonate production capacity is 48,000 tons, accounting for 25% of the global lithium resources market, and Albemarle and FMC companies almost monopolize the global production of brine lithium salt. Prior to this, Tianqi Lithium acquired Australia's Talison in 2013, and acquired the world largest and most abundant solid lithium mine, Green bushes (Green Bushh), which accounts for the global spodumene. Two-thirds of the mine supply. Moreover, the mining cost of the mine is lower than the industry average. For the countries where SQM and Thales are acquired by Tianqi Lithium, they are located in Chile and Australia, which are rich in lithium resources. At present, a total of 43,000 tons (calculated as pure lithium) has been produced worldwide, of which Australia has a capacity of 18,700 tons, Chile has produced 141,000 tons, and Argentina has produced 5,500 tons. China is second.

By acquiring the equity of lithium-rich Australian and Chilean resource development companies, Tianqi Lithium has a solid foothold in the world's richest lithium mines. At the same time, it also sits in the vast market of China.

Masaharu Katayama, head of Toyota's trade resource development, believes that: “Chinese companies are using large amounts of money to acquire overseas resources. They rely on a different set of rules from others to participate in the game.” The acquisition of Chinese companies is not limited to lithium mines. Cobalt ore is another raw material for battery production. Currently, a total of 110,000 tons of cobalt ore is produced globally (calculated on a mineral basis). 60% of the world's cobalt mines are from Congo, about 64,000 tons. This is followed by Russia's 0.56 million tons and Australia's 0.5 million tons.

Chinese companies are once again looking for acquirable overseas companies in this area. For example, Huayou Cobalt and Luoyang Molybdenum are leading the battle for cobalt assets. In June 2016, Huayou Cobalt acquired the Congo (Gold) PE527 copper-cobalt mining area. Luoyang Molybdenum has become the world's top copper and cobalt producer by owning a 56% interest in the Congo Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine. Japanese resource developers have issued warnings: "China is fully investing in battery materials." Behind the competition for battery materials by Chinese companies is the state's strong support for electric vehicles. Under the influence of market and policy, raw material prices in 2017 have risen at least twice as much as in 2015.

According to research by independent research firm IRuniverse, lithium (lithium carbonate) spot contracted price is 21 US dollars/kg, almost more than twice the price of lithium in the fall of 2015, when it was around 8 US dollars/kg. The trading price of cobalt is about $43/lb (equivalent to $95/kg), which is more than four times that of the fall of 2015. YujiTanamachi, president of IRuniverse, pointed out: "As electric vehicles will usher in full prosperity and a large influx of investment funds, the current environment will easily stimulate the price of lithium/cobalt."

Fuji City, the Japanese market regulator, predicts that the market for raw materials for lithium-ion battery production will continue to expand as demand for electric vehicle-mounted batteries increases. By 2021, the market will be three times the size of 2015 (1.1 trillion yen), reaching an alarming 2.9 trillion yen. The predictions of other experts are similar.

Japan insists on the internal reasons behind hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and solid-state batteries, and the lack of energy in Japan has made them panic about the acquisition of overseas resources by Chinese companies in recent years. This is one of the reasons why they insist on developing solid-state batteries and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). For the Japanese government and car companies, due to the severe shortage of domestic electricity, hybrid vehicles are transitional products. In the medium term, plug-in hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles are developed. In the medium and long term, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are the ultimate in the Japanese automotive industry development goals.

For hybrid and pure electric vehicles in the medium-term plan, Japan sees solid-state batteries as a hope to reduce demand for cobalt. Cobalt resources are being closed up by Chinese companies, and the lithium battery field is being overtaken by Chinese companies. Japan hopes to promote the development of all-solid-state batteries by the national power, so as to vigorously re-establish the battery industry in the field of lithium batteries.

On June 15th, Japan's New Energy Industry Technology Development Organization (NEDO) announced that it will start development of a new generation of high-efficiency battery "all-solid-state battery" with Toyota Motor and Panasonic, and strive to establish technology by 2022.

According to a special report on the development of all-solid-state batteries published by the Nikkei Electronics Journal in January 2018, the initial all-solid-state battery product is likely to be electrolysis only without changing the positive and negative materials of the Li-ion secondary battery. The liquid is replaced by a solid electrolyte. The feature, in this case, is the increase in charging speed and safety performance.

Then, as the positive and negative materials are sequentially replaced with high-voltage or high-density materials (high-density lithium-sulfur (Li2S) cathode materials, even higher sulfur (S8) and other materials become powerful. The choice of cathode material), the capacity density of the battery will be greatly improved. In the early 2030s, an all-solid Li-air battery using positive air, a negative electrode using metallic lithium, and an electrolyte using an oxide material may be available.

If Japan develops solid-state batteries, the demand for cobalt will decrease. Japanese battery suppliers have decided to get rid of cobalt. The cobalt content of the NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminum) battery (currently used in Panasonic's Models in the Tesla ModelS/X) is already lower than that of the next-generation NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) 811 to be produced by other battery suppliers. Matsushita said in May that it plans to develop a cobalt-free automotive battery due to the rising price of key battery raw materials.

Hosokawa, the project manager of Japan's new energy industry technology development organization, also said: "Half of the patents for all-solid-state batteries come from Japan." This also shows that Japan values and affirms its own solid-state battery.

The hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the medium and long-term plan are most highly regarded by Toyota and Honda, and are regarded as one of the future directions. They believe that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles draw air into the car, allowing oxygen to react with stored hydrogen to generate electricity, and its emissions are mainly pure water. Therefore, hydrogen fuel cells can be said to achieve zero pollution. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen as a source of energy will help Japan reduce the constraints on lithium and cobalt resources. With the addition of large-scale auto companies such as Toyota, focusing on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and solid-state batteries, Japan is reducing the impact of scarce metal resources from another route.

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